Onto your Agoraphobia, how come you've developed that?

[ghoul]

Can I use "onto x" to announce that I want to proceed with talking about subject x?

For example, "Onto your Agoraphobia, how come you've developed that?"

 

[emsr2d2]

Can I use "onto x" to announce that I want to proceed with start talking about a new subject? x?

For example, "Moving onto your agoraphobia, how come you've developed that?"

 

[ghoul]

Can you recommend a spoken english phrase that doesn't require an additional word like the one you posted?

 

[SoothingDave]

"Regarding your agoraphobia..."

 

[ghoul]

"Regarding your agoraphobia..."

Do you have a suggestion for a shorter, more casual variant?

 

[emsr2d2]

Can you recommend an spoken English phrase that doesn't require an additional word like the one you posted?

Soothing Dave's is good.

Do you have a suggestion for a shorter, more casual variant?

Shorter? No. More casual? Yes.

Let's talk about your agoraphobia. What caused that?

 

[ghoul]

Is the phrase "spoken English" really a mistake? I don't see explicit dictionary entries for it but the phrase is being used by eg. this sub-page of this dictionary website or in literature quoted on this page.

 

[jutfrank]

Can I use "onto x" to announce that I want to proceed with talking about subject x?

I'm going to say no. The phrase used to talk about proceeding to a following point is 'move on'. We can say, for example:

Moving on, I'd like to talk about your agoraphobia.

Given that, it would then be okay to say:

Moving on to your agoraphobia—how did you come to develop it?
Let's move on to your agoraphobia. How did you come to develop it?

However, the particle 'on', which is part of the phrasal verb 'move on', and the preposition 'to', which heads the preposition phrase that expresses the direction of movement, ought to be separated.

For example, "Onto your Agoraphobia, how come you've developed that?"

Even if the word onto is separated into 'on' and 'to', I still think it's not quite right, or at least not very good, without the verb 'move'.

Is the phrase "spoken English" really a mistake?

No, it's fine if you want to make it clear you want a phrase specifically used in spoken and not written English.

Do you have a suggestion for a shorter, more casual variant?

You could use 'about':

About your agoraphobia—how did you come to develop it?

However, that doesn't express the sense of progression that 'move on' does—it merely sets the focus of the topic.

 

[tedmc]

"Onto" is a very unnatural word. I know you mean "moving on from one subject to another" or "change of subject", but a simple about/regarding" is good enough.

 

[tedmc]

Is the phrase "spoken English" really a mistake? I don't see explicit dictionary entries for it but the phrase is being used by eg. this sub-page of this dictionary website or in literature quoted on this page.

It's probably too common a phrase (just like "written English") to require explanation.

 

[jutfrank]

I'd be moderately surprised if a decent dictionary did not have an entry for 'spoken English'. You might start with Cambridge, for instance:

Spoken English

Spoken English - English Grammar Today - a reference to written and spoken English grammar and usage - Cambridge Dictionary

dictionary.cambridge.org

 

[ghoul]

I've heard several native English speakers say "On to the next game.", within the last couple of days. Their intent was to say another round of a game (they were playing) was about to start. Have you guys never heard something like that?
I don't know how comparable the abovementioned sentence is to "On to your agoraphobia.", though. Let me actually explain again and better in which context I wanted to use that: Being in the midst of a conversation and wanting to move to another topic, the other persons' agoraphobia.

(By the way, I believe my punctuation within the quotes above is wrong but I'm not sure what to do about it. I want to keep the dots to indicate the sentence was finished at that exact time and I don't want to restructure my sentence or add more than 2 additional words. Is there a solution?)

 

[5jj]

I've heard several native English speakers say "on to the next game" within the last couple of days.

Really? I'm impressed. I haven't heard anybody say it in the last seventy-eight years. Where were you when you heard these words?

 

[ghoul]

Really? I'm impressed. I haven't heard anybody say it in the last seventy-eight years. Where were you when you heard these words?

You're seventy-eight?! I've heard these words from two different Youtubers, presumably Americans in their twenties and they were playing the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game. Before you ask, I wasn't able to find the exact moments they said it after searching for fifteen minutes.
By the way, I've just edited my last post. Could you reread it?

 

[ghoul]

@5jj
So, here's an excerpt where a guy says "On to the guide." as an introduction to the guide section of his video. (It's a guide about the abovementioned card game.)
Another one is "Going on to game number three." I can imagine the former phrase being a short form of the latter, considering how similarly they are used.
I still can't find the on-to-the-next-game one. Maybe I've misremembered that.

 

[jutfrank]

I've heard several native English speakers say "On to the next game.", within the last couple of days. Their intent was to say another round of a game (they were playing) was about to start. Have you guys never heard something like that?

Yes. I think you can think of it as there being an ellipted verb 'move': [Moving] on to the next game, ... One of the senses of the preposition 'on' is continuation, which in itself provides meaning enough for it not to require articulation of the verb. If you're asking me to comment, that's what I think, okay?

I don't know how comparable the abovementioned sentence is to "On to your agoraphobia.", though.

It's the same in that it indicates a change in discourse of topic or focus.

Let me actually explain again and better in which context I wanted to use that: Being in the midst of a conversation and wanting to move to another topic, the other persons' agoraphobia.

Yes, exactly.

(By the way, I believe my punctuation within the quotes above is wrong but I'm not sure what to do about it. I want to keep the dots to indicate the sentence was finished at that exact time and I don't want to restructure my sentence or add more than 2 additional words. Is there a solution?)

Remove the dots and then immediately stop wanting to keep them.

 

[ghoul]

@jutfrank
Thank you for your input, again.
I suppose using "on to" in such a way is informal?

 

[jutfrank]

I suppose using "on to" in such a way is informal?

No, I don't consider it informal at all.

 

[Tarheel]

If I wanted to change the subject and talk about somebody's agoraphobia (unlikely), I would probably say, "Bob, how are doing with your agoraphobia?" Then Bob would say, "Are you my psychiatrist now?"

 

[ghoul]

No, I don't consider it informal at all.

That baffles me because I assumed the phrase was something informal you didn't know and that that was why you said it couldn't be used that way, two months ago. Or was my explanation on how to use it back then just not good enough?